want to try LINUX

[hat]

I understand linux is a free operating system, if not oh wrll i can still get it.

I have questions for you.
Do I need to install any extra drivers or will linux install them for me? (like chipset, lan controller, etc)

Will .exe files work?

and finally, any good reason to switch to linux from windows?

[AsphyxiA]

Linux is free

Typically, Linux will install important drivers such as LAN or sound drivers

Having .exe files work will depend on which distrobution, what programs you use, and what .exe files you will be running. Typically you can emulate the windows installer and kernel through a program called WINE. If you use Linux XP, i have heard that you can actually install .exe files by default. The only downsides are that you have to buy it and well, you wont learn linux.

You should try a different distro, something that is free and people have said it is fairly easy to use. Go here distrowatch.com (http://distrowatch.com) You may want to try out Kubuntu, Debian, or SuSE 10.1

[DIBL]

In Linux-speak, "free" means you pay no cash money and you spend a zillion hours of your time figuring out how to make it work for you!

;)

Seriously, I've spent the past 2 months figuring out how to make a Linux machine my primary system at home, and I'm about 95% of the way there. The only thing I will apparently never do in Linux is interface to my Motorola Razr phone using Motorola Phone tools. Otherwise, there appear to be ways to do pretty much everything I need to do, including hanging on to the past 15 years of data from prior Windows systems.

Hard things in Linux (for me anyway): ATI graphics cards -- I solved this with an nVidia card
USB devices -- still tough in Linux -- you can master it by using a device ID labeling technique, but you'd better have passed FSTAB Editing 436 at Unix U. before you try it.

I like Kubuntu, which is Ubuntu with the KDE desktop. Here's their forum:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php

Good luck, Buckeye!

[Greek]

my friends have used ubuntu, it is hard to configure and most of the time u dunno what ur doing, but i think its a gd experience, and i like the whole gui thing, the interface is gd as well..

[DIBL]

Windows is "user-friendly" but Linux is "expert-friendly". That's a quote from one of the Linux books I bought. While there is a pretty dumbed-down installation routine for "plain vanilla" configuration, as soon as you want to define which hard drive, which partition, etc. etc., you'd better be prepared to do some serious manual-reading. Diehard gamers should probably stick with Windows. But if the coming Vista intrusion and control regime makes your blood run cold, then get a "free" Linux and start your experiments. Just don't put your data or programs at risk -- either make a new partition or use a different hard drive to do your crashing and learning on.

[Solaris17]

All versions of linux are free....the exceptions being the ones you buy at a store for like $5 like suse which is free if you download it from their site. seeing as all you pay for in the store is the 200page book and the 5 or 1 disk(s) because the os itself is under the opensource thing and linspire which to my knowledge took ideas from ppl to make it better copyrights etc etc and the fact that they call it linux and it is but just want money so they didnt put it under said open source thing and thats what i have heard about linspire but take it with a grain of salt. as for any other distro free free as in costs nothing except 30min on a fast connection.

[Wile E]

There are companies that charge upwards of $80 for Linux distros in the box. Why? A few reasons, packaging, a manual, custom settings and apps, but most importantly, tech support.

But for free distros easy on the beginner, you want one that has a good package manager and a large repository. Having those will cut down on your program installation times greatly. (K)ubuntu, Debian, Fedora Core, and Simply Mepis are some off the top of my head.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Typically you can emulate the windows installer and kernel through a program called WINE.

Wine Is Not an Emulator.